First of the Family | Top Money, Real Estate and Investing Podcast for Generational Wealth Builders · The Kitti Sisters

Asking an Immigrant Millionaire How to Make $1,000,000

November 4, 2025·1 hr 14 min·4 clips

He says, “I love China. I don’t want to leave,” after getting the U.S. visa.

1. First of the Family | Top Money, Real Estate and Investing Podcast for Generational Wealth Builders centers on David’s move from Beijing to New York and the path that followed. 2. David appears as the immigrant millionaire investor and Johnny appears as his son, while Pommy and Nancy introduce themselves as the Kitty Sisters, apartment syndicators with a $300 million multifamily portfolio. 3. The episode asks how David went from a childhood with no refrigerator and no meat to a life in America defined by freedom, legacy, and generational wealth. 4. David says he was born in Beijing, his parents came from Shanghai and Luoruo, and both parents graduated from Hangzhou University before teaching at a university. 5. He describes the Cultural Revolution as a period with “really no education at all” until Deng Xiaoping opened China and national exams returned. 6. He says only 2 percent or 3 percent could get into college at the time, and he entered college in 1979 after the first modern exam changes. 7. Food in his home meant rice, mantou, potatoes, and cabbage, with two chickens reserved for Chinese New Year. 8. He says the family had no refrigerator, no gas, and no propane, so cooking required opening a coal stove and letting air feed the flame. 9. David says a color photograph from America, sent by his father from a Princeton exchange, made the United States feel real for the first time. 10. He says he studied electrical engineering, attended English night school after work, and decided that staying in China would mean his life would never change. 11. He explains that TOEFL and the listening test blocked him, so he gathered 15 to 20 recommendation letters from Americans saying he had no English problem. 12. He says he also fabricated a transcript and GPA because China did not use a GPA system, then had the paperwork stamped to look official. 13. David describes the visa process as an affidavit of support, an I-20, and a 4 a.m. line at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing with about 100 applicants. 14. He says only one person out of the hundred would get approved, and he remembers being given the visa after the interview. 15. He says the one-way ticket was paid from family savings, the flight route was Beijing to Shanghai to Tokyo to Detroit to JFK, and the ticket cost more than $10,000 by his memory. 16. He recalls arriving with $40, wearing a tie and fake glasses because he thought Americans looked formal, and carrying two suitcases plus a dolly to save a dollar at JFK. 17. The tone is personal, detailed, and anecdotal, with David narrating long sequences of practical problem-solving rather than polished reflection. 18. The format is an interview with frequent back-and-forth interruptions, clarifying questions, and jokes about travel, food, and American customs. 19. Listeners who like immigrant origin stories, grit, and practical hustle. 20. Listeners wanting quick investing advice without personal backstory.

As heard by us

A hard-won immigrant story about survival, creativity, and legacy.

The episode follows an immigrant survival story that settles into a quiet look at creativity, endurance, and legacy. David talks about growing up in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution, arriving in America with $40 and two suitcases, and learning that instinct can matter when…

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Hear how one immigrant turned scarcity into a blueprint for generational wealth.

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